IP Democracy: Online Journalists Win Big Victory

In a major victory for bloggers and online journalists, a California state appeals court handed the EFF a win yesterday in a case involving Apple’s attempt to sue writers for online publications, PowerPage and AppleInsider, who published leaked information about the company’s products.

In the fight, Apple had subpoenaed PowerPage’s email provider nFox for access to emails for publisher Jason O’Grady and the trial court had upheld that subpoena. But the appeals court reversed that decision saying that not only is O’Grady protected by California’s reporter’s shield law, he’s also covered by the First Amendment’s right to free speech.

In their decision (PDF download here), the appeals panel wrote:

We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish ‘legitimate’ from ‘illegitimate’ news. Any attempt by courts to draw such a distinction would imperil a fundamental purpose of the First Amendment, which is to identify the best, most important, and most valuable ideas not by any sociological or economic formula, rule of law, or process of government, but through the rough and tumble competition of the memetic marketplace.

The critical upshot of the decision: the court has affirmed that bloggers and other online publishers will be accorded the same rights as large, traditional news publishers. And it’s a big victory for First Amendment advocates. Over at Scripting News, Dave Winer offers an even more impassioned take on the decision.

The day a U.S. court comes to a different conclusion will be the day the First Amendment dies. As long as the courts continue to uphold the principle that the First Amendment applies equally to online media, we’re reasonably safe. And by “we” I don’t mean the practitioners, I mean the whole society.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on May 27, 2006 10:19 AM to IP Democracy